SUNCOR

warned the emissions could exceed permitted levels throughout that day.

In March 2020, Suncor agreed to pay $9 million to settle air quality violations at Commerce City dating to 2017, including one in 2019 that blanketed adjacent neighborhoods in an ashy substance. It was the largest penalty Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment had ever levied from a single facility to resolve air pollution violations.

Water quality advocates also monitor leaks of PFAS “forever chemicals” and benzene into waters around Suncor.

Discharges of toxic “forever chemical” PFAS into Sand Creek and the South Platte River by Suncor’s Commerce City re nery spiked to thousands of times the EPA’s revised drinking water guidelines for three months starting in November, according to lings with state regulators.

e elevated discharges came as state clean water o cials are struggling to complete revisions to Suncor’s water out ow pollu- lessness by Xcel. Rather, high wind caused a power line to disconnect and contact other lines, leading to electrical arcing and hot particles showering onto dry grass. ere were no known problems with the power line prior to the re, Dougherty said.

“ is is a di erent discussion and a di erent decision, if that wire was worn or shoddy or they had maintenance issues in the past. ere was no such record of that, no indication of that.”

Xcel denied its power lines sparked the second of two res that combined to become the Marshall re, disputing that part of authorities’ ndings.

“We strongly disagree with any suggestion that Xcel Energy’s powerlines caused the second ignition, which according to the report started 80 to 110 feet away from Xcel Energy’s powerlines in an area with underground coal re activity,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “Xcel Energy did not have the opportunity to review and comment on the analyses relied on by the Sheri ’s O ce and believes those analyses are awed and their conclusions are incorrect.”

New details on the investigation come nearly 18 months after the re exploded in late December 2021 and raced across 6,000 acres, as galeforce winds pushed embers across parched grassland into subdivisions bordering open space. Two people died in the re and more than 1,000 homes and businesses were de- tion permits that were rst opened to public comments more than 18 months ago. Colorado o cials noted then that they had included PFAS limits for the rst time in a draft of the revised permit. PFAS is an abbreviation for per uoroalkyl and poly uoroalkyl substances, a group of potentially harmful chemicals used as waterproo ng in thousands of goods from stain resistant carpet to rain gear to re ghting foam. e state health department’s water quality divisions have acted quickly recently to address potential pollution in runo from Suncor’s operations, Tafoya said. e air pollution division should use the study and other information to increase enforcement as well, he said. Various health divisions at the state should consider Suncor’s cumulative violations across all agencies. is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media. stroyed in Louisville, Superior and unincorporated Boulder County.

“At the end of the day, we need CDPHE to take the lead,” Tafoya said.

In addressing the disastrous toll of the re, Curtis choked up and thanked the community for its patience as the investigation played out.

“I know personally the last 18 months have been hard and not having answers creates stress and challenges that we don’t need,” he said in a quavering voice. “And I hope that now we can focus on rebuilding our lives and getting back to our homes and our community.” e Boulder County Sheri ’s Ofce said the re likely started near Marshall Road and Colorado 93, but federal agencies aided in its investigation to try to pinpoint the cause of the re. e re also raised questions about Boulder’s emergency noti cation system, which is designed to send re warnings and evacuation alerts to people who signed up to receive them. Records obtained by e Colorado Sun showed that the rst phone alert was sent 42 minutes after the re started and only to 215 people. By then, at least one structure had burned and the re was well on its way toward consuming more than 1,000 homes and businesses. is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.

Evidence included hundreds of body camera recordings and photos that were captured by rst responders during the initial response of the re, along with 49 physical items and 137 pieces of digital evidence, such as drone footage and video recording by witnesses, the sheri ’s o ce said.

Since the re, the sheri ’s o ce said it has improved the countywide noti cation system and now uses Amber Alert-style warnings that can be sent directly to the cellphones of people who may be in danger based on their GPS coordinates. e county acquired the technology prior to the Marshall re but had not nished setting it up. Updates have also been made to the county’s other phone alert program, Everbridge, which sends alerts via landlines, cellphones, emails and text messages to those who register, the sheri ’s o ce said last month. Boulder County strengthened its ordinances last year to provide speci c guidelines on how to fully extinguish res, Johnson said.